General My final selection...

[bjones371]

http://www.pentagon-vauxhall.co.uk/used-cars/fiat/grande-punto/1.2-active-5dr/wp06kvm

This is the GP I'm showing an interest in to the dealer tomorrow, going to drive up to Barnsley (from Manchester !!!) on Saturday hopefully to have a proper look at the car see the condition its in etc before I commit to anything, maybe quick test drive.

What does everyone think? I know it's not a lot to go off but some further opinions from current owners will be useful!

Cheers

B

 

[JTD_Liam]

Personally i wouldnt go near it. My reason being, its a Fiat and its for sale at a Vauxhall dealership. Fiats can be problematic & Vauxhalls are often considered a 'safe choice' of car where reliability is concerned (although my experiences are quite the opposite).

Therefore it could be that the previous owner bought it, it went wrong loads, so they traded it in and decided to go for a Corsa coz theyre meant to be reliable.

Try to get one from a Fiat dealer or totally independant dealer/private seller if its still as new as the Grande Punto. After 4 years or more it'd be fair to see one at a rival dealership as some people just fancy a change, but not that soon.

Also, get a Dynamic as a minimum. Active is rental car territory, and that one could have been a rental one aswell, as its reg number starts with W which is where Fiat register most of their fleet cars (W meaning Westcountry, including the docks at Portbury nr Bristol )

Just as a random side line, a local car for you wud start with M, P, or Y (Manchester, Preston & Peaks or Yorkshire). Hope that helps a little.

 

[bjones371]

Hmm true, I see where you're coming from actually... Is the Pentagon up in Barnsley a Vauxhall dealer's though, I know it's on a Vauxhall site but I think the Barnsley branch is more of a "CarCraft" type place, or am I mistaken there?

Another has caught my eye since though, black 56 plate (registered in '07) with 12.5K miles on the clock, reg plate starts with A, still an active though as trying to keep monthly payments down and mpg up haha!!

http://sis.virtual-showroom.co.uk/(...creGroupCustom&mode=search&stockID=10019|9921

Sorry for the long link, but thats where it lives anyways, unfortunately it's at a StoneAcre garage, who may be a Fiat dealer, but (after a small amount of research on here) seem relatively (incredibly) sh*t when it comes to after sales service etc so little bit wary on that front...

Cheers

 

[JTD_Liam]

Im not 100% sure about Pentagon in Barnsley im afraid. I think Pentagon is quite a big group, but i don't think it has a Fiat-specific site anywhere so thatd be my main concern.

The other one could also be an ex rental car, as alot of rental cars start with A on the reg plates, i'm not sure why, but the A is for Anglia and youll see alot of big car hire places with cars starting with A on the reg plate. It might be coz they get registered at the Port of Felixstowe, which i think comes under the Anglia registration area. Excuse the randomness!

With regard to costs, i'd imagine the tax and fuel costs are the same on Active & Dynamic 1.2 models. The insurance may increase by a group & the asking price for purchase may be higher, but it shouldnt be a crippling variation & the Dynamic is alot nicer in terms of spec. Air Con, Alloys, and i think extra airbags to name a few things, which are all decent additions (compared to some trims that just add a body coloured wing mirror if youre lucky).

Stoneacre don't appear to be up to much i agree. Never used them but the comments on here don't seem too encouraging. If you wanna go to a dealer near-ish to you that is a Fiat Approved place, try

Mangoletsi (Knutsford)
Oldham Motor Village (formerly Caledonia Oldham)
Picadilly (Wakefield) or maybe
Richard Cort Italia (Blackford Bridge, nr Bury)

 

[bjones371]

Im not 100% sure about Pentagon in Barnsley im afraid. I think Pentagon is quite a big group, but i don't think it has a Fiat-specific site anywhere so thatd be my main concern.

The other one could also be an ex rental car, as alot of rental cars start with A on the reg plates, i'm not sure why, but the A is for Anglia and youll see alot of big car hire places with cars starting with A on the reg plate. It might be coz they get registered at the Port of Felixstowe, which i think comes under the Anglia registration area. Excuse the randomness!

With regard to costs, i'd imagine the tax and fuel costs are the same on Active & Dynamic 1.2 models. The insurance may increase by a group & the asking price for purchase may be higher, but it shouldnt be a crippling variation & the Dynamic is alot nicer in terms of spec. Air Con, Alloys, and i think extra airbags to name a few things, which are all decent additions (compared to some trims that just add a body coloured wing mirror if youre lucky).

Stoneacre don't appear to be up to much i agree. Never used them but the comments on here don't seem too encouraging. If you wanna go to a dealer near-ish to you that is a Fiat Approved place, try

Mangoletsi (Knutsford)
Oldham Motor Village (formerly Caledonia Oldham)
Picadilly (Wakefield) or maybe
Richard Cort Italia (Blackford Bridge, nr Bury)

Lol you certainly know your stuff!!! From research I think the Dynamic loses about 20 miles per tank from facts and figures, plus if I had air con I'd use it for the sake of having it (just because I can haha) which would drink the petrol a little more severely. Alloys I'm not too fussed about either really, they'd probably get swiped round here anyways! Will take a nosy at those few dealers over the next couple days (or hours, depends how tired I get ) and see if they have much in for me to have a peek at.

Thanks again

 

[JTD_Liam]

Haha - i have too much time on my hands i reckon!

Im intrigued about the Dynamic using slightly more fuel, maybe it's because of the alloys, i'm not sure. The air con will use a little bit more, but i reckon youre better off with a nicer specced car personally.

I spose you could try Stoneacre in Hyde (if it's still there?) as they may have a decent Grande Punto in stock, i think it's mostly servicing/aftersales where they slip up.

I lived in Manchester for a couple of years, hence my reasoanble dealership knowledge of that area! Got a house in Middleton.

 

[bjones371]

Haha - i have too much time on my hands i reckon!

Im intrigued about the Dynamic using slightly more fuel, maybe it's because of the alloys, i'm not sure. The air con will use a little bit more, but i reckon youre better off with a nicer specced car personally.

I spose you could try Stoneacre in Hyde (if it's still there?) as they may have a decent Grande Punto in stock, i think it's mostly servicing/aftersales where they slip up.

I lived in Manchester for a couple of years, hence my reasoanble dealership knowledge of that area! Got a house in Middleton.

Perhaps it is that, got the info from parkers.co.uk who are pretty useful when looking at info for cars...

Yep Stoneacre Hyde still going strong (so to speak), not much there going from the site though (not in my budget range of about £4K anyway), the one in Liverpool that I put on above was the only one in my region to be honest.

http://www.motorparks.co.uk/jsp/ind...xprice=5000&depositpct=10.0&term=48&x=43&y=11

Only loss is its in Blackburn so fair way to travel to take a look at it, but finance seems a decent deal as well, cheapest I've seen, intrigued as to why the reg plate been blocked out though, none of the other GPs are like that.

I've lived here 18 years almost and I couldn't tell you half of that stuff haha!

EDIT:- My bad, reg plate is quite clearly there on the site, WN06 YFD...

 

[JTD_Liam]

That light blue (Psychadelic Azure) Dynamic looks more like it. Blackburn Motor Village is (i think) the old Caledonia site in Blackburn (i think they took over Caledonia Warrington, Oldham, Preston & Blackburn).

It'll be a nice little drive up there, M60 for a few junctions, join the M66 near Middleton, then up towards Rawtenstall & join the M65 if i remember rightly!?

And yes, that finance deal looks pretty reasonable because places often try and charge a fortune on interest when youre only borrowing a small amount (ie below £5000). I got a Stilo in September for £4000 and that's 9% APR so that Grande Punto sounds about right, they may move a little bit on interest if you can provide them with a lower rate from another company.

 

[bjones371]

That light blue (Psychadelic Azure) Dynamic looks more like it. Blackburn Motor Village is (i think) the old Caledonia site in Blackburn (i think they took over Caledonia Warrington, Oldham, Preston & Blackburn).

It'll be a nice little drive up there, M60 for a few junctions, join the M66 near Middleton, then up towards Rawtenstall & join the M65 if i remember rightly!?

And yes, that finance deal looks pretty reasonable because places often try and charge a fortune on interest when youre only borrowing a small amount (ie below £5000). I got a Stilo in September for £4000 and that's 9% APR so that Grande Punto sounds about right, they may move a little bit on interest if you can provide them with a lower rate from another company.

Yep seen that colour at a Ford dealer's near mine and love it, second only to black in my eyes but not too fussed about colour really, as long as it goes it will do me nicely, good colour and spec just adds to it

Looked on google maps earlier and yeah that's actually spot on! Only around 45 mins from here so not as far as I first thought, closer than Barnsley anyway!

Seen finance rates at about 12.9% lowest until I spotted that one, Fiat approved means nicer fallbacks if there's any problems as well I'd presume so looks better there as well. Going to see if I can convince my folks to come along with me tomorrow to have a look at it, current car driving me crazy with petrol usage, insurance costs etc!

 

[JTD_Liam]

Yep seen that colour at a Ford dealer's near mine and love it, second only to black in my eyes but not too fussed about colour really, as long as it goes it will do me nicely, good colour and spec just adds to it

Looked on google maps earlier and yeah that's actually spot on! Only around 45 mins from here so not as far as I first thought, closer than Barnsley anyway!

Seen finance rates at about 12.9% lowest until I spotted that one, Fiat approved means nicer fallbacks if there's any problems as well I'd presume so looks better there as well. Going to see if I can convince my folks to come along with me tomorrow to have a look at it, current car driving me crazy with petrol usage, insurance costs etc!

Oh well if you like the colour then that's all good!

Yeah it's not a bad drive up to Blackburn, i used to do it quite abit from South Manchester & it'll probably be less busy than it would be driving to Barnsley.

Fiat Approved is always a bonus, even if it doesn't look much on paper, at least if something does go wrong, you stand more chance of getting abit of help off Fiat UK. If the price was really high compared to an independant, id say go with the independant, but at that price you might aswell stay with Fiat Approved.

With the finance, try playing about on their calculator on the link you posted, as if you change the payments to 36 months from 47, the amount of charges reduce according to their figures.

 

[bjones371]

Yeah like blue in general so worked out nicely!

True, believe Fiat approved means you get a 12 month "used car" warranty (or so says fiat.co.uk) which counts for something surely! Cheapest dynamic I've seen elsewhere is £4200 so good deal if car turns out OK!

Would love to get a 3yr finance deal but dont think my wage will cover £110ish, plus over £200 car insurance bill per month, plus phone bill, plus keep for my folks as well haha!

 

[JTD_Liam]

Yeah like blue in general so worked out nicely!

True, believe Fiat approved means you get a 12 month "used car" warranty (or so says fiat.co.uk) which counts for something surely! Cheapest dynamic I've seen elsewhere is £4200 so good deal if car turns out OK!

Would love to get a 3yr finance deal but dont think my wage will cover £110ish, plus over £200 car insurance bill per month, plus phone bill, plus keep for my folks as well haha!

Yeh if its Fiat Approved it should have what Fiat state on their website.

Aah right yeah, i was forgetting the fun of paying for insurance when your younger than me, i'm down to £45 a month now, so there is something to look forward to when you get older, haha!

Try as best as you can to lower the length of the finance aggreement because you will probably want to change cars again after 3 years regardless of the finance agreement and it can get messy when youre still paying for one car and driving another.

If you don't change after 3 years, then at least youre saving that extra amount you wouldve been paying out on the finance, which you can put towards something else.

Don't stretch yourself too much, but just see if there is a realistic way of affording a shorter finance agreement before you go to Blackburn as it's better to go into the dealer knowing exactly what you want from them.

 

[bjones371]

I wouldn't describe it so much as "fun", more "incredibly frustrating and skinting me" lol. Paying £230 at the min for current car, jumps to £270 a month on a GP until May, then drops to about £170 mid-July when I'm up for renewal unless I find somewhere cheaper.

Looked at loads of options to try and get down to 36 months, borrowing money to put in a big deposit doesn't make too much diff, cutting down on petrol spending doesn't help all that much... Working it out though, the £112 p/m car, £270p/m insurance, minus keep and phone bill, and setting £120 aside for petrol (my work place is 25 miles from home haha!), would leave me with £180 of my wage, which I could cope with...

Have to discuss it with the parents too I think, as they have a lot of input, but i dont really think right now is an appropriate hour haha!

 

[JTD_Liam]

I wouldn't describe it so much as "fun", more "incredibly frustrating and skinting me" lol. Paying £230 at the min for current car, jumps to £270 a month on a GP until May, then drops to about £170 mid-July when I'm up for renewal unless I find somewhere cheaper.

Looked at loads of options to try and get down to 36 months, borrowing money to put in a big deposit doesn't make too much diff, cutting down on petrol spending doesn't help all that much... Working it out though, the £112 p/m car, £270p/m insurance, minus keep and phone bill, and setting £120 aside for petrol (my work place is 25 miles from home haha!), would leave me with £180 of my wage, which I could cope with...

Have to discuss it with the parents too I think, as they have a lot of input, but i dont really think right now is an appropriate hour haha!

Yeah i mean don't let me tell you how to run your finances, but just take it as advice from someone who's been well & truly stitched up by finance on cars in the past.

Speak to the parents too & see what they say. But yeah, maybe leave them till about 9am! lol.

Keep us posted how you get on.

 

[bjones371]

No course not all advice is welcome mate cheers! They've said themselves getting it over 4 years would be much better than 5, and 3 years better still, so I'll have to see what they say about it really.

If I get off to Blackburn at all tomorrow I'll let you know how it looks and whether we got anywhere with them!

Ta

 

[JTD_Liam]

No course not all advice is welcome mate cheers! They've said themselves getting it over 4 years would be much better than 5, and 3 years better still, so I'll have to see what they say about it really.

If I get off to Blackburn at all tomorrow I'll let you know how it looks and whether we got anywhere with them!

Ta

Coolio, no worries mate!

 

[-DrEw-]

It worked out cheaper for me getting brand new than second hand! fiat dont offer 0% finance and £1,000 cashback on second hand cars, and also have a 5 year warrenty and 8 year bodywork corrosion warrenty (it might be that on series 1's too, im unsure) but if your wanting to spend a bit more money i'd definatly recommend the s2 grande 'GP' it has all the same spec as the sporting, only without the engine and sideskirts and wheels, there more reliable too.

 

[Jazzy Jase]

I wouldn't necessarily be put off by ex-rental. My first car ('97 Cinquecento SX) was ex-rental. I bought it at 6 months old from a car supermarket. To this day it's the only car I've ever bought second hand and it's also the only car that never went wrong. I sold it to my sister after having it almost 2 years and she promptly crashed it.

 

[-DrEw-]

I wouldn't necessarily be put off by ex-rental. My first car ('97 Cinquecento SX) was ex-rental. I bought it at 6 months old from a car supermarket. To this day it's the only car I've ever bought second hand and it's also the only car that never went wrong. I sold it to my sister after having it almost 2 years and she promptly crashed it.

I agree my old mk1 was a ex-courtesy car and i had it 3 years and only things i needed to change was starter motor and oil filter (it rusted through) and exhaust